CEBU, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has assured local government units to carry out continuous capacity development (CapDev) efforts to empower them mainly in managing agriculture, health, and environment services.
This is to ensure the efficient delivery of devolved functions and services.
“The administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. remains committed to providing LGUs with support and technical assistance amid full devolution,” DILG Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos, Jr. said in a statement.
Along with this, Abalos is urging the local government academy to lead and collaborate with the national government agencies.
“I urge the Local Government Academy (LGA) to lead and collaborate with national government agencies (NGAs) towards improved CapDev initiatives in areas where they need it the most,” Abalos added.
The LGA, in collaboration with the NGAs, is also expected to calibrate its CapDev initiatives in connection with the result of the said analytics to better address the CapDev needs of LGUs, Abalos said.
He said LGA has trained 143 DILG and Local Resource Institution (LRI) coaches in 2022 and certified 59 Level 1 coaches to provide continuous training in CapDev agenda formulation to LGUs.
“We must adhere to the results of the DTP Analytics as these will guide us on the most ideal CapDev initiatives to be implemented to better assist the LGUs amid the implementation of full devolution,” added Abalos.
Based on the assessment conducted by the DILG referred to as the LGU Devolution Transition Plan (DTP) Analytics, the priority sectors for provinces in the CapDev agenda are agriculture, environment, health and administrative.
Component cities/municipalities, on the other hand, are prioritizing on agriculture, health, environment, social welfare, and administrative sectors.
Abalos also said that among the areas covered by the Data Capture Forms (DCF) included in the said assessment are the inventory of devolved functions and services, phasing of full assumption of devolved functions, services, and facilities by the LGU, LGU budget for FSFs for full assumption, existing and proposed additional plantilla position, and budget and performance monitoring for devolved functions and services.
In the regional briefing on full devolution conducted recently, DILG’s Bureau of Local Government Development (BLGD) mentioned that the analytics also showed that LGUs recommended the hiring of additional regular staff in provinces, cities, and municipalities to aid them in their health, agriculture, social welfare, and infrastructure responsibilities.
“The proposed augmentation of human resources will support full devolution. With such, no province, city, municipality, and barangay will be left behind,” Abalos said.
Only one barangay in Capiz, one municipality in Nueva Ecija, and one province in Negros Oriental did not submit their Devolution Transition Plans yet.
“We are closely assisting LGUs that have not yet completed and submitted their DTPs. Hopefully, they can meet the requirements so they could start operationalizing and incorporating it in their budget preparation and revenue mobilization,” said Abalos.
Consultations between NGAs and LGUs on the delineation of NGA programs, projects, and services supporting devolved functions are still underway. — FPL (FREEMAN)